THE PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION

Eternal and Almighty God, unchanging in goodness, faithfulness, truth, and love: We give You thanks that You have not left us to ourselves but have come to us, seeking us and claiming us as Your very own, through Your Son, our Savior Jesus Christ. In His name, and for His sake, we pray that You will send forth Your promised gift of the Holy Spirit upon us anew. Fill us with Your Spirit. May Your Holy Presence be heavy upon us, granting to us spiritual wisdom and insight, enlightening the eyes of our hearts and opening our minds to the truth of Your Word, and renewing and strengthening our souls so that our hearts may be more completely inclined to walk in Your ways and keep Your commandments. Your Law, O God, is perfect. Give us understanding, that we may keep Your Law and obey it with all our hearts. Direct us in the path of Your commands, that there we may find our true delight. Turn our hearts toward Your statutes, and not toward selfish gain. Turn our eyes away from worthless things, and renew our lives according to Your Word; through Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord. Amen.

THE ASCRIPTION OF PRAISE

"Now to Him who loves us, and who has freed us from our sins by His blood ..." — to Jesus Christ be all praise, honor, and glory, now and forever. Amen.

THE SERMON

A few months ago, I preached a sermon in which I used an illustration from my personal experience ... the experience of slipping off a log as I attempted to cross a small ravine while hiking in the mountains. The point of that illustration was to show how easy it is for us to lose our balance ...how easy it is to lose our balance and to "slip" to the "left" or to the "right" when interpreting the Scriptures and applying them practically to our lives, how easy it is to "slip" when following our Lord Jesus Christ. I don’t want to slip off the log this morning ...and I don’t want you to, either, as we meditate on God’s Word given to us in the Tenth Commandment: "You shall not covet ...anything that is your neighbor’s." So, please, stay with me.

The Tenth Commandment, "You shall not covet ... anything that is your neighbor’s," is most basically interpreted to mean, "You shall not desire something that belongs to your neighbor, such that, if you could, you would take it from them" — in other words, you shall not wish that it belonged to you instead of to your neighbor. The Tenth Commandment, then, forbids and condemns all forms of jealousy and envy. Envy is a particularly gross sin precisely because it is a secret sin which sours the soul. Envy is one of the distinctive characteristics of the sinful nature, right alongside sexual immorality and murder. Envy betrays an ill-will against our neighbor, wishing that he or she did not have a particular blessing, just because we don’t have that particular blessing. And so, coveting something that belongs to our neighbor is the spiritual seedbed of murder, adultery, theft, and slander. It all begins right there, in the secrecy of our covetous hearts, being envious of the blessings of others. Jesus said, "...out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander" (Matthew 15:19). Covetousness is that deep-rooted sin in our hearts which bears rotten fruit in our lives.

In that light, do you see how covetousness is a hateful and ungrateful attitude toward God? He is the One who freely bestows blessings according to His goodness, wisdom, and grace. How dare we shake our fist and spit in His face by being green with envy for the blessings of others, and bitter about and ungrateful for the blessings He has given to us?

The true Christian spirit rejoices in the blessings of others, and is thankful for the blessings that others have received. Indeed, following Christ, we are to seek ways to bless others, rather than selfishly wishing that their blessings were ours. What does it mean to obey the Tenth Commandment? To be content with and thankful for our blessings, and to be happy about the blessings of others.

Obeying the Tenth Commandment means being happy for your colleague when he or she receives that promotion which you wanted. There’s nothing wrong, of course, with your original desire for that promotion, or that bonus, or other "perk" — but when someone else gets it instead of you, then, as a Christian, it is your duty to be happy for, and to rejoice with, that other person. Don’t make yourself sick with envy, bitterness, jealousy, and a self-destructive, negative competitiveness which drives you to "have more" — more money, more things, more power, more prestige — than your neighbor. When someone else receives a special honor, or a special gift, or has the opportunity to enjoy a special experience which you really wanted, then, as a Christian, you are called by Christ to delight in and be thankful for that other person’s happiness. Be happy for your neighbor, not selfishly envious, and not cynical or judgmental about your neighbor. When one of your teammates receives the "Most Valuable Player Award" on your athletic squad — but you thought you really deserved it — then, as Christian, obeying the Tenth Commandment means being genuinely happy and thankful that your teammate received the award instead of you. Rejoice with others, and be thankful, for their blessings.

You see, way down deep, spiritually speaking, not coveting really means wanting the best for our neighbor, and rejoicing in the blessings of our neighbor. The Scripture says to us as a Christian community, "Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves" (Romans 12:10), and Philippians 2:3, "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others." And, of course, in that passage, Paul is setting forth for us the example of our Lord Jesus Christ, who came among us as a humble servant to bless us.

But there is another aspect to "coveting," which applies more generally to our hearts and to our lives. It has to do not only with our attitude toward others and their blessings, but our attitude in general toward the things of this world. In the New Testament, coveting or covetousness is also referred to as "greed." For example, in Colossians 3:5, we are exhorted to "put to death whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these the wrath of God is coming." The word which the NIV translates as greed is translated in other versions as covetousness. So, greed, greediness, is an aspect of covetousness. The Greek New Testament word for covet is related to a root-word which refers to a violent movement of wind or water, and thus it came to refer to that which stirs the soul, moves the heart, inspires the affections, and inclines the will. Coveting has to do with deep desires. In the parable of the "Sower and the Seeds," Jesus said that it is "the desires for other things," (literally, the coveting of other things) which chokes out the word and makes it unfruitful in our lives (Mark 4:19). So, the Tenth Commandment addresses our general attitude to the things of this world and our desires for them.

Now, this is where we must be careful not to slip off the log. There are many things in this world that are "good" — that is to say, beneficial, helpful, or "good" in the sense of beautiful, bringing wholesome pleasure and clean-conscience delight to our lives. Now, there’s a word for the good things of life, and that word is "blessings." And our God is a God of blessings; He is the God "from whom all blessings flow." When He brought Old Covenant Israel up "out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage," He promised to bring them into a land "flowing with milk and honey." The LORD promised Israel that they could expect to "build fine houses and settle down," and that their herds and flocks would grow large, and their silver and gold would increase and all that they had would be multiplied (Deut.8:12-13). All of this would come as the blessing of the LORD, because as the Scripture says, "...it is (the LORD your God) who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms His covenant" (Deut.8:18). If it is God who gives the ability to produce wealth, so that in His providence our blessings are multiplied, then surely it is no sin to enjoy those blessings or even to desire them.

The point here is simply that God does not condemn the "having" of good things or the desiring of good things, blessings, from His hand. The New Testament echoes this and affirms that God "richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment" (1^st Timothy 6:17).

But ...don’t slip off the log. No, I’m not preaching the "health-and-wealth-name-it-and-claim-it-prosperity gospel." This world is not a candy store and God does not intend for His children to be a bunch of spoiled brats. It is at this point that we have to come face-to-face with our own sinfulness. The problem has to do with the corruption of our hearts — so that instead of having a godly desire for God’s good blessings, we are really consumed with insatiable greed; and instead of being content with and thankful for everything that God has given to us, we are restlessly driven by an avaricious acquisitiveness — that just means, "shop ‘till you drop" — because enough is never enough, and when we see something we don’t have, we want it, because there is something wrong with our hearts, and our souls are empty. And so Jesus Himself warned us, "Be on your guard against all kinds of greed (also translated, covetousness); for a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions" (Luke 12:15).

Now, do you see the warning about "slipping off the log"? — because, on the one hand, God intends for us to enjoy the good things of this world that He gives us in His providence; but, on the other hand, the Bible gives many clear warnings about the spiritual dangers of our desires for, and our attitudes toward, the things of this world. First Timothy 6:10-11 warns us that "the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs."

And it is at this point that we see how the parable of the seeds applies to the Tenth Commandment. Jesus told the parable of the "Sower and the Seeds," and then interpreted it, saying that sometimes the word of God is stolen out of the hearts of people by Satan. Sometimes the word of God is suppressed by persecution, so that some people who first received it later reject it. And sometimes, the word of God is choked out — by the "worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth, and the desires (that is, literally, the coveting) for other things," and the word becomes unfruitful. And so you see what the danger is — the danger is that we will covet, earnestly desire, the things of this world more than the reality of the kingdom of God in our lives. When we covet the things of this world more than we want Christ Himself in our lives, then the thorns of this world grow up and choke the word, and our lives become unfruitful. That’s the great danger for us all — that we would be so distracted by and obsessed by and possessed by the things of this world, that the word of God in our lives would be choked out and our lives would become unfruitful for the kingdom of God. And, dear friends, for us Americans in the year 2000, for us in our situation, I do not know of any greater threat to our spiritual fruitfulness, or anything that has any more of a negative impact on us spiritually today, than "the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth, and the coveting of other things" — not necessarily "bad" things, just "other things."

Now, let’s not kid ourselves. Everyday we are told that we do not have enough. Everyday you are given a reason not to be content with what you have. Everyday, you are bombarded with hundreds of messages — messages which have been professionally, carefully crafted and targeted at you to convince you that you would be happier if ... . Everyday, you are teased with the suggestion that you are not as "happy" or as "important" as he is because he’s got one of those things ... and you don’t ...and wouldn’t you like to have one, don’t you think you need one? ...she’s got one.

Dear friends, we live in a blessed land, we live in a blessed time. But let’s face it: our society feeds on greed, and is compelled by covetousness. And you and I are not immune to the influence our society upon us. And the blessings which we enjoy — blessings from God — if we set our hearts upon them, instead of upon God, if we covet the things of this world more than we covet the things of the kingdom of God, then the desires and distractions of the things of this world will grow up around our souls like thorns, and choke out our commitment to Christ, and His Word will become unfruitful in our lives, and our lives will become unfruitful in for His kingdom.

But listen: the real problem is not — is not — that we love and desire the good things of this world too much (let me say that again: the real problem is not — is not — that we love and desire the good things of this world too much); no, the real problem is that we do not love and desire God enough. The problem is not how much we love the things of this world, the real problem is how little we love God, and how little we seek to find our happiness, our fulfillment, our joy, our purpose, and our highest goal and delight in Him.

Now, think about this: do you have Jesus Christ as your Savior? Then you have everything — you have everything of infinite value, and nothing of eternal value can ever be taken from you. But if you do not have Christ as your Savior, then no good thing in this world is of any lasting value to you, and all your earthly pleasure will end in eternal misery. Have you received the gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ, have you received the blessings of the forgiveness of your sins and the renewal of your soul through the blood of Christ shed on the cross for you? Is there anything in this world more precious, more desirable than the blood of the Lamb and the Spirit of the living God? Are you a child of the King through faith in Jesus Christ? What more could you really desire than to have the King of the Universe as your eternal, good, and gracious Father? Jesus said, "Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom" (Luke 12:32). "A man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions," said Jesus, because the abundance of possessions has nothing to do with the abundance of life which comes from knowing Christ as your Savior and following Him as your Lord as a child of the King for the sake of His glory. Do you covet that? Do you eagerly, earnestly, fervently desire and long to have life in all its fullness, by knowing Christ, loving Christ, serving Christ, suffering for Christ, dying with Christ, and being raised together with Him and seated with Him in the heavenly places? Covet that, my friends! Covet Him! And to God be the glory! Amen.